Don’t Waste This – Part 13

James 5:13-18 ~ July 12, 2020

Introduction

We are very quickly coming to the end of James’ letter. We’ll wrap up this series next week. Last week, I pointed out how the ending of letters written during this time were often quick shots of topical points that can seem to be unrelated to the overall message of the letter. We’re looking at the second such topical point today.

 James 5:13–18 (NLT)

¹³ Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. ¹⁴ Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

¹⁶ Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. ¹⁷ Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! ¹⁸ Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

Though there is never a reason to live in a way that does not honor and please God, we are not left alone. We have resources available to us. One of those resources is prayer.

• Prayer is both powerful and effective!
• This true even when I don’t get what I want!

James tells his readers (and us) to…

1. Pray when you’re suffering hardship.
2. Pray when you’re happy.
3. Pray when you’re sick.
4. Paul wrote that we should never stop praying (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

 If we choose to pray…

1. We will find that prayer is both powerful and effective.
   1. What constitutes powerful and effective prayer?
   2. From James’ context (and from other Scripture), and from personal experience, I think we can say that powerful and effective prayer is prayer that brings about change.
   3. James shares two examples of change brought about through prayer – sick folks being healed and the absence and presence of rain.

 We must ask a crucial question here.

1. Does prayer always bring about the change we desire?
2. The all too obvious answer is, “No, it doesn’t.”
3. So, how do we reconcile this fact with what James wrote?

Let’s first consider why we sometimes don’t get the answer we want through prayer.

• Some prayer is against God’s will.
  • Moses, Jonah, and Elijah prayed to die
  • Jesus prayed for a way God’s plan could unfold without suffering and death.
• Some prayer is not in God’s timing.
  • Habakkuk prayed for Israel’s deliverance from the Babylonians
  • Jeremiah prayed that Jerusalem would not be destroyed
• Some prayer is foolish.
  • James’ and John’s mother asked that they be given places of honor in the kingdom.
  • Peter and John prayed for fire to fall on a resistant Samaritan village
• Some prayer is selfish.
• Some prayer is denied because of sin.
• Some prayer is not granted so that we might learn a lesson.
  • Paul prayed that God would remove a “thorn in his flesh” and God responded by telling Paul, “My grace is enough for you; my power is displayed in your weakness.”
• Sometimes, unanswered prayers turn out to be their own blessings.
  (Thanks to those of you who shared about prayers that weren’t answered the way you wanted, like…)
  • A couple of people told me about praying for a specific job only to be glad that it didn’t pan out.
  • Someone else shared this: “When our son was born and we got the diagnosis, we were devastated. I prayed for days, months and years that it was not true, and he would be healed… By not getting my wish, God changed my life for the better. He has allowed me to care for disabled people to touch many others. It was and continues to be a blessing.”

It may be well and good that I can give you reasons why prayer does not always bring about the change we desire, but it still leaves a taste of dissatisfaction, doesn’t it?

Let’s consider some other things. I’ve taken these from Philip Yancey’s book, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? You might just recognize your own thought and feelings.

• “I do not doubt that God answers prayer. Rather, I struggle with the inconsistency of those apparent answers.” (220)
• What would happen if God answered every prayer? He would abdicate his throne and turn the world over to us. (228)
• What if God only granted the prayers of devout folks? Christians would be a favored class who never got sick, never lost their jobs, never had accidents, etc. (228)
  • How would that affect Christians?
  • How would if affect those outside Christianity?
  • Most religious golden ages led to pride and decadence while trying times typically brought spiritual growth.

The real problem is not in unanswered prayer, but in the Bible’s “promises” (234)

• Jesus could have said something like this: I am giving you the gift of prayer. You must realize, however, that since you do not possess perfect wisdom some requests will not be honored. Prayer will be like a suggestion box. Spell out your requests clearly and I promise that each one will be considered carefully. (234)
• We could understand that, but what we have is… (234-35)
  • Matthew 18:19 (NLT)— ¹⁹ “If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.
  • Mark 11:23–24 (NIV)— ²³ “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
  • John 14:13–14 (NLT)— You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!
  • John 15:7 (NIV84)— If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!.
• Some preachers seize these passages and fault people for having too little faith.
  • What does enough faith even look like?
  • Does having enough faith mean that God is bound to grant every request you make?
  • If so, that sounds like God giving up his authority and sovereignty to the ever-changing, often selfish, wishes and whims of people. That doesn’t sound like faith to me!
• How do we explain these passages?
  • Possibility one: They were promises good only in the time of the original apostles; they have since expired.
  • Possibility two: Each promise comes with condition…a condition that is not always met even though we are sure it has been met.

No logical explanation of unanswered prayer will make us feel better or always make us understand. We must place our faith in a God who has yet to fulfill his promise that good will overcome evil and that God’s purpose will prevail. (231)

 The mystery of unanswered prayer makes us learn to wait.  The act of waiting works to develop patience, persistence, trust, gentleness, compassion, etc. (237-38)

• Wait a minute! That sounds like something James would say, doesn’t it?
• In fact, he did say it:
  James 1:2–4 (NIV) – ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

• In all our prayers, whether we get the answers we want or not, we can count on this one fact: God can make use of whatever happens. (239-40)

• Writing to the church in Corinth, Greece, the Apostle Paul helps us keep unanswered prayer in perspective: We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
  1 Corinthians 13:12 (The Message)

 We can only wait and trust. (247)

I submit to you this morning that powerful and effective prayer does bring about change:

• Sometimes, God brings about the change we desire.
• Sometimes, God changes us and our desires.

 Spiritual maturity demands we understand that every prayer must be uttered with the same caveat (even if it remains unspoken): Not my will, but yours, Oh God.

• Prayer is not primarily a means to get what you want… it as an opportunity to trust God…no matter what He chooses to do.
• When you pray, tell him exactly what you want (he already knows) but also tell him that you want his will more than anything.
  • If you can’t say that, make that your prayer: “God help me want your will more than I want my own.”

What should I do with this information?

1. Pray with me right now your own version of a prayer that says something like this, “God, even though I don’t always understand, help me to want your way more than I want my own. Let your will be done in my life.”
2. Incorporate the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer (or Our Father) into all your prayers: “Our Father in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will done, on earth as it is in heaven.”